Work set for Lyndhurst intersection.

Work is expected to begin within weeks on the long-delayed reconstruction of the Riverside Road-Kingsland Avenue intersection. In addition to widening the approaches, the traffic lights on both sides of the bridge will be synchronized, allowing improved traffic flow.

Shovels are expected to drop within weeks on the long-planned, long-delayed improvements to the intersection of Riverside Road and Kingsland Avenue at the DeJessa Bridge, which spans the Passaic River between Lyndhurst and Nutley.

Township engineer Brian Intindola said the $815,000 bid for the project is expected to be approved by the Bergen County Board of Freeholders, and after that work should begin almost immediately.

The $815,000 cost will be covered by Bergen County, with the township picking up the cost of the previous work and easements to widen the intersection.

Proposals for the improvements to the drawbridge and the intersection date back at least to 1976, and have met with varying degrees of interest, but consistent results: Nothing happened.

Lyndhurst Mayor Robert Giangeruso took on the task about six years ago while still a commissioner, Intindola said, adding that much of the literal and figurative groundwork already laid by the township has made the project much more feasible.

"The township has already acquired many of the easements necessary to get this started," Intindola said. The sign at the Exxon station at the northwest corner of the intersection has already been moved, as have many utility poles, which will expedite the upcoming construction, he said. The sign for the apartment building and stores at the southwest corner have also been moved.

"It's been a long time coming," Giangeruso said, adding that the congestion at the intersection causes problems for local businesses.

The key to getting traffic moving at the intersection will be the installation of a state-of-the-art traffic signal control system, which will coordinate the traffic lights on the Lyndhurst side of the bridge with the signals on the Nutley side of the bridge. Currently mechanical controllers determine the patterns for the signals, and the lights on each side of the bridge operate separately. Though efforts are made to synchronize the traffic lights, they frequently drift out of sync, causing waits of more than 15 minutes at the bridge.

"Then you add traffic from the Route 3 construction to the north, and everything gets thrown off," Intindola said.

The project will include the removal of center islands on the roadways at the intersection with dedicated left-turn lanes from Riverside onto Kingsland from both directions, and dedicated through, left- and right-turn lanes for eastbound traffic coming off the bridge. The roadways will also be widened through the area, and the previous work down by Lyndhurst Township will speed that part of the project.

"We already have those signs moved, so we don't have to wait for the utility companies to get there to move the poles," Intindola said.

The winning bid came in considerably less than the $1 million the county expected to spend.

The goal of the project will be to clear the intersection through each cycle of the traffic lights on both sides of the bridge once they are coordinated. A system of GPS and ground sensors will determine short-term variations needed to keep traffic moving. Typically, traffic can sit at a red light on the Lyndhurst side while the light at the Nutley end is green. Then the Lyndhurst light turns green just as the Nutley light turns red, and little forward progress is made, Intindola said.

The immovable object in the mix is actually a movable bridge. It is limited on one lane in each direction, and that can't be changed. But by better managing the traffic into and out of this bottleneck, the two lanes will be more effectively used, Intindola said.

Long term, the township hopes the Passaic River through the area can be designated as a navigable waterway. Most of the industry to the north of the bridge that at one time depended on river transportation is long gone, and the rare times the bridge has had to be opened in the past few years is to allow boats and barges doing work related to pollution mitigation to pass, a project that will end at some point.

"The cost of replacing a moveable bridge is just astronomical," Intindola said.

Several other drawbridges to the north have been replaced by fixed structures, such as the Union Avenue bridge in Rutherford. The Route 3 drawbridge was also replaced by a fixed span recently.

Intindola said he expects the project to be completed before school begins in September.

"I know a lot of teachers who live on the other side of that bridge," he said. "This should improve their commute."